2024 Anonymous Nonprofit Salary Survey Results

The first step toward creating pay equity is pay transparency and the first step toward pay transparency is sharing your salary: either anonymously through a survey or out loud with your peers.

Silence only hurts our cause.

This is why Monsoon Leadership launched our very first anonymous nonprofit salary compensation survey in January 2024, which asked three simple questions:

• What is your current salary?
• What is your current title?
• List all bonuses you receive.

The survey was shared through email, LinkedIn, and Instagram and received 43 responses. The most shocking thing is that the answers were all over the place with no clear dominant trends! This shows how random and unregulated nonprofit compensation is. ??

Of the respondents, titles ranged from Associate to Executive Director with everything in between and salary ranges from $42,000 to $240,000. Only 40% of people were earning over $100k, and only 30% earned a bonus. We have so much more work to do in our sector to improve these stats!

The one thing that we can all agree on is that nonprofit professionals are underpaid across the board. There is a general attitude of stinginess with internal raises, which causes people to look for a new job so they can keep up with inflation and afford a decent life.

In the recent Social Impact Staff Retention Survey by the Nonprofiteers, they found that 57% people cited “inadequate compensations/benefits” as one of the top reasons that people were looking for a new job. And, on the flip side, 64% are staying their role because they have adequate compensation/benefits.

Paying people more increases staff retention.

Furthermore, in the 2023 Nonprofit Workforce Survey Results by National Council of Nonprofits, “three out of four respondents reported job vacancies (74.6%),” and, “salary competition was the most frequently cited challenge (72.2%).” The good news is that in 2023, nearly two-thirds (66%) of nonprofits raised salaries, and 39.3% awarded one-time bonuses. ??

Taking into account Monsoon Leadership’s recent salary data, the fact that only 30% of people are receiving bonuses shows that offering bonuses is a fantastic staff recruitment and retention tool. Also, providing salaries over $100k should be a regular occurrence (not less than half of the participants!).

This data builds upon a growing movement to advocate for better compensation for nonprofit professionals. The current status of nonprofit salaries is breeding discontent and attrition in our sector.

We must start paying prosperous wages so our talented employees can thrive in their current life and build wealth for future retirement. We deserve nice things! ??

If nonprofit leaders, boards, and funders are serious about creating impact, then we all need to invest heavily in staff retention. We cannot create impact without dedicated staff. Or else, we are sector focused on a revolving door of hiring instead of creating change in the world.

Spending $10k extra to retain a high performer who can move the needle on important issues seems like a good investment to me! Instead of wasting $40k on a recruiter and hiring process to replace that staff and start all over again. We need consistent staff to create momentum. The world literally cannot wait (cough: climate change).

But until we inspire a sector-wide movement, we want to get this salary information in your hands so you can negotiate a top-dollar salary for your new position. ??

Download the full report here with specific title + salary + bonus data. Also, watch the ??? recording of our LinkedIn Live conversation with Tasha Van Vlack of The Nonprofit Hive to dig deeper into the ?? data.

We hope this information helps you confidently ask for the salary and bonus you deserve.

Need help negotiating an internal raise or a salary increase at a new position? I’m your secret weapon. Schedule a free discovery call and let’s get you in your dream salary band.

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